Follow PR Daily on:

The weight of ‘social listening’ in client relations

An Advertising Age profile of New York agency Sparks and Honey reveals how Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s book prompted them to nix a content marketing campaign.

Sandberg’s book, “Lean In,” is described as a “feminist manifesto.” It ignited strong opinions—positive and negative—and Sandberg herself was criticized for, among other things, being “tone-deaf to her voice of privilege.”

Back to Sparks and Honey. Their campaign about “women having it all” was targeted to female professionals. Based on the Sandberg backlash, they convinced the client that the campaign should be pulled. Instead they went with a campaign based around travel hacks—tips that make business travel more palatable.

It’s an interesting read on how social listening can inform content marketing decisions. Would Hyatt have seen the same backlash that Sandberg did? We’ll never know. My guess is no, but then again we don’t have the particulars of the campaign. If there was a crisis in store, Sparks and Honey and Hyatt headed it off.